Wind Models for Very Massive Stars in the Local Universe

2011/12/05 by J. S. Vink, Vink, Jorick S., J. M. Bestenlehner +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1112.0936

openalex publication_date 2011/12/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Some studies have claimed the existence of a stellar upper-mass limit of 150 Msun. A factor that is often overlooked concerns the issue that there might be a significant difference between the present-day and the initial mass of the most massive stars - as a result of mass loss. The upper-mass limit may be substantially higher, possibly exceeding 200 Msun. The issue of the upper mass-limit will however remain uncertain as long as there is only limited quantitative knowledge of mass loss in close proximity to the Eddington (= Gamma) limit. For this reason, we present mass-loss predictions from Monte Carlo radiative transfer models for very massive stars up to 300 Msun. Using our new dynamical approach, we find an upturn or "kink" in the mass-loss versus Gamma dependence, at the point where our model winds become optically thick. These are the first mass-loss predictions where the transition from optically thin O-star winds to optically thick Wolf-Rayet winds has been resolved.

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